Outrage
Originally published on 12 Dec 2020
I listened to Hidden Brain on NPR today and they explored the idea of outrage. This episode (from 2019 but replayed today) introduced the idea that outrage actually has had reinforcement through the process of evolution. In the early days of human evolution, if a person committed acts against the norms of the community, then people’s outrage could lead to action to correct the issue. They could banish the person or the person could change behavior in order to be accepted. This episode talked about how important outrage was to community success in evolution. It was so important that to feel outrage triggers brain chemistry linked to the reward centers of our brains.
I have been looking for things that I share with Trump voters. I believe that all people are good, and that there are not good people and bad people. People have reasons for what they do, and generally when they take actions, they are trying to increase the good in the world, however they define good. So outrage is something that I share with Trump voters. I am outraged about so many things, and I can clearly see that they are too. We can look at the same situation and both feel outraged for different reasons, sometimes opposite reasons. But we share the outrage. And at the heart of outrage is a desire for things to be better for the community.
This episode of Hidden Brain seems to be saying that the outrage that spurred early humans into improving their communities is actually having the opposite effect in modern times. I can see that. They said that every time we humans get outraged on social media, we still get the brain chemistry rewards, but the recipients of the outrage get none of the consequences. So there we are in our echo chambers getting outraged, without having any positive effect on our communities, which causes even more outrage.
I remember the saying “if you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!” and I am truly outraged by racism and white supremacy culture, genocide of native peoples, climate change, children in cages, COVID, extinction of species, sexism, soil erosion, and the list goes on. My question is: what do I do with that outrage? It had a purpose in evolution, which was to cause us to take a stand to improve our community. But now expressing outrage shuts down real discourse and puts an end to nuanced discussion. I might feel better when I express outrage, but it is often counter productive.
Somehow I need to figure out how to feel outrage, but actually engage in humanizing the person I am outraged against. I also need to be open and aware of when someone might be outraged with me. In early evolution, outrage worked because it was one-on-one or small group. The person receiving the outrage was already part of the group and accepted as human. That was why people were outraged at them, because they had violated their own community’s standards. The person receiving the outrage had a vested interest in staying in the community and changing their behavior. So they would pay attention to words, facial expressions, and non-verbal cues in order to figure out how to get back in the good graces of the group. Now, outrage on social media is dehumanizing from both sides, and it goes nowhere.
Hidden Brain talked about how outrage is amplified on social media, because we are wired to respond to emotional content. Humans are more likely to like or repost an entry that sparks outrage. All of this skews the content we see to outrage all the time. I think of outrage as a useful emotion to a certain extent. It spurs action. But much like the flight or fight response is useful in a crisis but not nuanced enough in the long haul, outrage is a one dimensional way to see the world. It is like the anger guy in the movie “Inside Out.” It is also exhausting in the same way that continual “flight or fight” stress is exhausting.
If I had an answer for this, I would tell you. The frustrating part for me is that I am outraged against people who do not care that I am outraged against them. And other people might be outraged at me and my beliefs, but it does not change me. At the end of the episode, they explore how power affects empathy. The research shows that the more power a person has, the less they are able to read facial expressions and non-verbal cues. I am outraged against people who can’t see my face to see how outraged I am, and even if they could see my face they have lost the need to notice if I am mad, because they are empowered to keep doing what they are doing. Worse. I am often outraged at systems and corporations that are not persons capable of reading emotion or wanting to amend behavior to stay in the group.
Hidden Brain is so good.
